The Canary Islands Government wants to promote the process for the building and acquisition of 1,021 protected houses in Tenerife within the framework of the Canary Islands Housing Plan (2020-2025), of which a total of 304 will be built thanks to Next Generation European funds.
As DIARIO DE AVISOS has learned, the forecasts of the Ministry of Public Works are to build 343 homes in Santa Cruz (215 in Cuevas Blancas, 88 in Los Príncipes and 40 in María Jiménez); 112, in La Laguna; 77, in Granadilla de Abona; 65, in La Orotava, 18, in Candelaria; 18, in Arico; 17, in Santiago del Teide; 17, in El Sauzal; 16, in La Victoria; 13, in Güímar; 12, in La Matanza, and nine, in Los Realejos.
To these projects must be added the energy-efficient homes, with an area of approximately 70 square meters, included in the affordable rental program, which in some cases will be built directly by the Canarian Housing Institute (Icavi) and in others, by the municipalities. According to the information to which this newspaper has had access, the municipality with the largest number of houses benefiting from this program will be La Laguna, which will build 150 properties on publicly promoted land and municipal property.
The construction of the rest of the houses will be carried out by the Canarian Housing Institute and will be distributed among four municipalities in the South: 60 in Arona, 45 in Armeñime (Adeje), 25 in Arafo and 24 in Guía de Isora.
The lack of public housing has been one of the most frequent claims for years by city councils, social entities and charitable groups throughout the island of Tenerife. A situation that, in the case of the South, is aggravated by the reduction in the supply of real estate to reside in due to purchases by vulture funds and the boom in vacation homes, which, in the opinion of hoteliers and workers, place the tourism sector on the verge of “collapse”, since skyrocketing rental prices prevent employees from accessing a flat or apartment on the outskirts of tourist areas.
Rents have skyrocketed in the midlands and in the neighborhoods of the southern region that are farthest from the tourist centers. Costs have increased by up to 30% in the last year and it is difficult to find a rental for less than 800 euros per month, according to what Manuel Fitas, general secretary of Sindicalistas de Base, the majority organization in the hospitality sector, told this newspaper. who recalled that the “few” options available in the outskirts exceed 60% of the average salary in the sector in rental income.
For his part, the president of the Tenerife construction association, Óscar Izquierdo, stated that it is “urgent” to provide workers with affordable rental housing not exceeding one third of their income. In this sense, he recalled that the solution lies in public-private collaboration and defended the use of the Canary Islands Investment Reserve (RIC) to face a “dramatic and scandalous reality, after 12 years without building social housing in the South ”.
